necessary, and that's why i will be voting for barack obama this tuesday, november 6th. i'm krystal ball, and i approve this message. all right. that does it for us at the cycle. >> krystal ball says an act of god breaks the demonization of this president. thank you and good afternoon it's thursday, november 1st, and where did that mice old mitt romney go? mean old mitt is back on the trail. five days to go and the pace is fast and furious. >> i was a leader in the boy scouts of america some years ago. >> no! faster than that. >> you know i'll fight for you and your families every single day as hard as i know how. you know that. >> if i'm re-elected -- excuse me, if i'm elected. >> we've gone too far to turn back now. >> we need you, virginia.

we've got to take become america. >> together we'll renew those bonds and reaffirm that spirit that makes the united states of america the greatest nation on earth. thank you, wisconsin. >> while full fury abounds about two politicians helping millions. >> is it possible obama called christie and said you want some money? you better let me come. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern. >> barack obama stole mitt's date to the disaster prom. ♪ the boys are back in town ♪ the boys are back in town ♪ the boys are back in town ♪ the boys are back in town >> we begin with our hearts and minds still very much with those reeling and recovering from sandy's devastation. at least 74 people are dead in the region, dozens more lost in the caribbean. some 5 million are still without power. but life is starting to move forward, and after a day as comforter in chief consoling those who lost everything in new

jersey, the president is back on the trail with just five days to the election. we're expecting air force one to touch down in las vegas in just a few moments, and earlier today in wisconsin the president regathered his campaign fight making his closing argument in this election and urging voters to say no to the purveyors of cynicism. >> they spent millions to stop us from reforming health care and wall street and student loans, and their strategy from the start was to engineer pure gridlock in congress. their bet is on cynicism. but wisconsin, my bet is on you. >> of course, wisconsin is a key part of the president's so-called midwest firewall, including iowa and ohio. states leaning in his favor that would hand him the election. even with romney sweeping the rest. our newest poll shows the president's lead holding but narrowing. in wisconsin romney has cut his

opponent's lead from six points to three. in iowa the president maintains a six-point lead down to eight points two weeks ago. these final days every minute, every move, every vote counts, as mitt romney is well aware. doing three events in virginia today where he staked his race on the business savvy that has made him a millionaire many times over. >> we don't need the secretary of business to understand business. we need a president who understands business and i do and that's why i'll be able to -- >> i'm not sure that mr. romney realizes that this week everyone's been reminded that americans need much in a president than the ability to make money. moments ago, another man noted for his business expertise, now leader of the nation's largest city, independent mayor mike bloomberg, has just endorsed president obama for four more years. let's get right to our panel.

with us from washington, msnbc political analyst david corn, author of "47 percent." and joy reid managing editor of thegrio.com. of who always brings 100%. >> borrowing the words of calvin coolidge who said the business of america is business. the most respected businessman turned politician mike bloomberg has just endorsed the president. what do you make of that move? >> what was interesting was one of the reasons mayor bloomberg cited, which was climate change. looking at the devastating impact of the storm sandy -- >> due mean that nonsensical, mumbo jumbo, nonsense that isn't believable. >> we will remember when mitt romney joked, actually joked, about rising ocean levels and the president's desire to do something about it during his speech in tampa.

and so i think mike bloomberg is taking that quite seriously, and even though this isn't been an issue unfortunately in this campaign and even though i think the president cares about this, wants to do something about it, he's been sort of beat back by obstructionistic congress on this front, mike bloomberg sees it as a serious matter. it's a reminder in these closing days when we get focused on firewalls and gaffes and nongaffes, what comes on tuesday has a lot to do with the future of this nation and the future of the world, quite frankly, because the nights is such unit such an impact. i think bloomberg is bridging us back to why we're in this. >> i want to get your rae action on reaction on bloomberg and read you what the economist has said. they said mr. romney has an economic plan that works only if you don't believe most of what

he says. this is not a convincing pitch for a chief executive. i mean, what's happened to all these businessmen? i thought romney's calling card was his business expertise. >> yeah. it's interesting, martin, that you mentioned old cal coolidge. a lot of what mitt romney and his running mate paul ryan are talking about in economic policy, if you believe what they're saying at any given moment, would take us back to that era when business and wall street had a free hand and workers had no rights, their bosses were bound to respect. it was the preunion era when you had robber barronsons running ram hant over the rest of the country. mitt romney would return the country to an era when the balance of power was held by very large businesses in wall street and not by their employees. that said, if the economist and michael bloomberg have one thing in common, it's like they know how to do math. mitt romney's promises don't add

up because his real business it turns out is marketing. he's microtargeting a message to whatever audience is in front of him at that very moment and then telling the next audience sometimes the opposite. it does depend on whether you believe, look, if he was still the 2003 or the 1990s era romney, bloomberg said he might have joted for him but this guy has change sod many times because he's constantly in the business of target marketing. >> it's really hard to keep track pivoting off joy's point here now. he's the guy in favor of business but yet the heads of the -- the ceos of chrysler and gm had to come out and say you're lie being us and you're going to hurt our sales with your lies. he's not really keeping up with business there, but i have to tell you also, earlier this week he got subsumed by the sandy coverage as it should have, but i put out a story with another videotape in which mitt romney talking to a fund-raiser earlier this year says, you know, there's a better business environment in china than the

united states. well, why is that? it's because they have no worker protections, no environmental -- >> they have no human rights, david. >> and low wages. so is he saying he wants to bring us back to that point? like to the days of cal coolidge as joy suggests? >> david, yes. >> there's a lot going on that doesn't compute and when it does compute it's rather scary. >> there's something called the moonlight magnolia theory of economics. the south practices it right now. when you strip away unions and you can lower wages, businesses are more profitable. that's why wall street -- you see the stock market tick up when companies lay people off because it's considered more efficient. >> romney's closing campaign appears to be focused on frightening people. in ohio he puts out an ad that frightens people as david has said into believing they will lose their job in the auto industry but in virginia he frightens them into believing they will lose their health care. listen to this. >> perhaps needing the care of a

specialist, if he or she makes a call to the doctor and if obama care is installed and the president is re-elected, why when making that call you're most likely going to have the receptionist come back and say, sorry, we're not taking any more medicare patients. >> again, joy, a total lie, and yet frightening to people who may believe what he says. >> yeah. i think the thing is that, again, this is a marketing -- it's something unlike martin that i have ever seen. i have been following politics for a very long time and he literally has not really paid a price for this kind of behavior. so what the lesson that mitt romney has learned from this election is that he can get away with a lot of what we used to call flip-flopping but what a lot of democrats just call flat out lying, and he's doing what he has to do. i mean, this is a guy who a lot of people have said his only true ideology is that he believes in the ambition of mitt romney, and he will do and say whatever it takes.

>> the most important line of this whole campaign, public line, not talking about the 47% video, was when mitt romney -- >> but the second reference to your own journalism in this broadcast. >> thank you for pointing that out. >> when mitt romney's pollster said we will not be dictated to by fact checkers, it's been the mantra of his campaign, fashths don't matter, reality doesn't matter, i will say anything at any given point in time. it's not just flip-flopping, not making reckless charges and accusations that don't hold water and when you're called out, what do you do? you say it again and again and again. as joy pointed out, if he wins, he will be rewarded for this behavior. i know from having two kids, when you let them get away with stuff, they don't start behaving better. >> david, as the race gets closer and election day bears down upon us, we have the legendary mike huckabee suggesting if we vote for the president we may yet have to pay for it in eternity. listen to this.

>> your vote will affect the future and be recorded in eternity. will you vote the values that will stand the test of fire? this is mike huckabee asking you to join me november the 6th and vote based on values that will stand the test of fire. >> david, your vote will be recorded in eternity and it must stand the test of fire. is it now his view that the unforgivable sin is voting for this president? >> well, apparently not santa, but god is keeping a list of whether you're naughty or nice and if you're naughty, you're voting for barack obama and you're going to hell. i saw this the other day, too. it's just one of the many outrages that are just kind of cascading past us in these final weeks. i'm glad you picked up on it, but, you know, apparently there's no such thing anymore as a liberal christian, and the only type of christian that will get through the pearly gates are

those who accept mitt romney's lies and vote for him. you know, it's really -- i wish there was more of a national discourse in which something like this could be called out and mike huckabee could be shamed. but, you know, he's doing it to a particular audience. that audience hears it and the rest of us either don't pay attention or aren't offended. >> incredible, joy and david, thank you both so much. next, as the president and governor christie come together to help the stricken state of new jersey, conspiracy theories abound. stay with us. >> he was clearly there for the canned goods. >> we're going to box these things up in just a minute and put them on some trucks and thaen we're going to send them into i think it's new jersey. >> boy. boy, that really warms my -- i think it's my heart. [ female announcer ] today, jason is here

to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief.

we are watching a live picture of air force one which has just touched down in las vegas in the battleground state of nevada. the president is expected to come down those stairs at any moment. the campaign -- a day after witnessing the devastation of hurricane sandy and just five days before the election, nevada will be the second of three stops today for the president, which began in wisconsin and will ultimately end in colorado. and here with a preview of the last days of campaigning is nbc's kristin welker who is awaiting the president in las vegas. kristin, we've been hearing some conservatives complain about the president's excellent working relationship with republican new jersey governor chris christie

in the aftermath of the storm. how is the white house handling those complaints? >> well, martin, good afternoon. the white house publicly is saying they're not going to comment on the complaints or the president's visit really, what it could mean politically, because they say this is not a time for politics. i can tell you privately though that both democrats and republicans were a little bit surprised by governor christie's tone yesterday. they said he could have thanked the president, but he was really effusive about it. i want to make the important point i spoke to one of my republican sources who lived in the areas that was battered by sandy and he said, look, it is possible that governor christie is just very thankful for the president being there because there are so many people who are suffering. having said that, we are less than a week out from election day, so, of course, the visit will be viewed through a political lens. of course, governor christie presides over a blue state. he's up for re-election next year and, of course, there are rumblings he could potentially want to run in 2016.

so aligning himself with this president isn't necessarily a bad thing. the flip side of that, of course, is president obama is up for re-election on tuesday. so to have this show of bipartisanship certainly isn't a bad thing. the president has been criticized for overseeing a sharply divided washington, d.c. so this could certainly catch the eye of some of his supporters and also independent voters. >> i should say, kristin, that the door of air force one is open, a greeting party is gathered at the bottom of the steps, and we expect the president to emerge at any moment. the other development today, and i'm not sure if you know about this, kristin, is the endorsement of new york city mayor michael bloomberg. >> reporter: yes. >> i wondered if the white house or the president's press secretary had any response and did they know that this was coming today? >> reporter: well, we are awaiting a response. let's put it that way. i'm trying to find out if the

president is actually going to mention it. you might remember when colin powell endorsed the president, he spoke about it at the next campaign event. i wouldn't be surprised if we heard president obama reference the endorsement. we're still awaiting reaction. there were a lot of smiles here though in the press office as they were waiting to get sort of the official reaction from their campaign. it certainly helps president obama with independents and potentially undecided voters. martin. >> sure. kristin, i can assure you even as you listen to the national anthem that the president has come down the stairs and he'll be with you shortly. kristin welker, thank you so much. >> reporter: thank you. >> if you really want to see what's driving the far right to distraction at this moment in the election campaign, then take a look at this. >> i cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for our state and for the people of our state. >> i just want to thank him for his extraordinary leadership and partnership. >> yes, you saw it with your own

eyes there. a republican and a democrat coming together during a national disaster. absolutely disgraceful says the far right. but as always they have an unskewed explanation for what they cannot comprehend. >> governor christie said bring money, just show up and bring money. i need money. my state is in terrible shape. come and bring money, i will be glad to stand with you. i don't care about the election. he said that. this election is not important right now. >> joining us here in new york is jonathan alter, a bloomberg view columnist and an msnbc political analyst. jonathan, i don't understand the problem. five days to go until the election. mitt romney has been attacking the president for not working in a bipartisan manner. here is an excellent example of the president, governor chris christ christie, keynote speaker at the republican national convention, working together and they're up in arms. they're apoplectic with rage.

>> rush limbaugh doesn't want bipartisanship. >> he doesn't want functions government? >> he doesn't live in new jersey or new york. >> he doesn't care that people have lost their lives? >> he doesn't care, no. >> really? >> it's of no consequence to him. i'm not saying that the loss of life is of no consequence to him, but the needs of new jersey and new york at this point are of no consequence to him, otherwise he would say, well, you know, it's nice to see them working together. but he's so determined to, you know, help romney win this election that he actually engaged in -- maybe he was joking -- but a little bit of gay baiting if you listen to the full broadcast today where, you know, he said this was man loving man and going heavily with the love metaphors between the two politicians. but, you know, the larger impression here is one of bipartisanship which is extraordinarily important because a lot of voters, they are concerned that the president

has not been more successful with republicans. and the addition of mike bloomberg and then earlier in the week colin powell, a moderate republican, that's a trifecta, bloomberg, christie, powell. more moderate republicans who are for all intents and purposes connected to this president in this last week. >> john, doesn't it also define who is responsible for the failure of bipartisanship because the president has repeatedly extended his hand, and if someone grasps it, he will work with them. the problem is they have refused to do so. mitch mcconnell has repeatedly refused to do so. boehner tried to. eric cantor, no thanks. that's the reality, isn't it? >> well, this is what -- yes, it is the reality, and what's unfortunate about some of these articles that are coming out that are essentially endorsing romney like david brooks' column saying, well, romney will be able to get along better with congress, but the message that this would send is that

obstructionism and just complete refusal to compromise pays off. so one of the important things to do in this election is to vote for compromise. vote for this kind of bipartisanship. vote for working across the aisle. don't validate mitch mcconnell and eric cantor and john boehner's strategy. their whole strategy was to obstruct, obstruct, obstruct and get a new president with the purpose of making it seem that the president was unsuccessful. >> well, make it seem that this president was responsible. >> even on something that hadn't gotten any attention at all and should in the last few days. let's just take three quick issues. so embassy security. they blocked obama on sending a $300 million for embassy security. infrastructure. the president had a jobs bill that provided infrastructure. we all now understand how important infrastructure is. they blocked him on that.

climate change. that bill passed the house and was blocked by mitch mcconnell in the senate to begin to do something about this. remember, at the convention mitt romney made fun of barack obama for saying that the tides were rising. well, now we find out they are. >> yes, indeed. jonathan, thanks so much. coming up, team romney sinks to a new low, even for them. >> it's just marvelous to have folks in the entertainment community out there singing and per fortunatelying to make sure people are coming and listening to our message. final for the yours business entrepreneur of the week. seth carney works boston area renaissance fairs, haunted

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from bipartisan leadership at work to the late night comics back at play, here are today's "top lines" heck of a job brownie. >> i instituted a 15-minute rule. you return everybody's phone calls in 15 minutes. >> we want to make sure they have a speedy and fik recovery from their financial and in many cases personal loss. >> how long? >> 1996. >> i cannot thank the president enough. >> governor christie has been responsive, aggressive. >> is it wrong for one man to

love another man? >> chris christie kicked crazy [ bleep ]. >> good thing his mom sewed his name into all of his clothes. >> somebody put into the sand the letters romney. >> why? >> because they love him. >> the differences between the two men are very dramatic and without a doubt only one of them is a leader. >> i'm a guy who does his job. you must be the other guy. >> he scrapped his victory rally in kettering, ohio, and appeared at a completely different the same spot and called it a storm relief rally. >> michael brown in charge of fema is criticizing president obama for responding to hurricane sandy too quickly. >> brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. >> he would have said more but he was still responding to katrina. >> you will be rescued by private sector volunteers like paul ryan who will come to your devastated town and wash your already clean pots. >> bell go trick-or-treating on the same route i went on when i

was a little guy. >> i usually put a condom over my head and go out as a -- never mind. >> he's not going to get any of your votes. >> far left is threatening violence if president obama loses the election. >> we voted him off the island. >> five more days. >> together we will renew those bonds and reaffirm that spirit that makes the united states of america the greatest nation on earth. let's get right to our panel now, krystal ball is my colleague and the co-hass host of "the cycle." jimy williams joining us from washington. we have live pictures of president obama speaking in northern new jersey. isn't this what a disaster like this required, a state governor to communicate and then cooperate with the president of the united states? >> it's absolutely what's required, and i think it is what

americans want from their government. i think it has to be a source of pride for americans watching these two men who have been political combatants. chris christie a top surrogate for governor romney, standing next to each other, praising one another. not jst one way, the president has been praiseful of chris christie. i think republicans are really off base to criticize him just for thanking the president for doing his job and being a leader in this situation. >> when you were listening to rush limbaugh there, that had a hint of kind of homophobia, didn't it? >> rush limbaugh has been disgusting on all this. he also imitating the president in a very offensive way. indicated that he called chris christie and basically bullied him, said he wouldn't get any money if he didn't come out and do this. limbaugh is in his own land trying to spin things for his tribe of sort of deluded people that follow him. >> jimmy, mr. romney is now moving from the lying to the

ludicrous in his ads. here is a particularly sensational one as he tries to reach out to latino voters. take a listen to this. [ speaking foreign language ] >> so i'm mitt romney -- >> we have fidel castro, hugo chavez, all the devils are here as shakespeare has said. they even have castro's niece. but can you explain what any of that ad has to do with the president of this nation? >> well, martin, don't you know that barack obama is a socialist. don't you understand that? isn't that clear after all this time, even through the gop primaries that barack obama -- >> no, no. >> every one of his policies is clearly without a doubt, it's ir irrefutable. he is a socialist. >> jimmy, you're beginning to sound like sarah palin. >> well, that's -- oh, that's the worst thing you could ever say about me except -- unless you call me rush limbaugh.

here is why barack obama is not a socialist. i will give you one example. obama care. people say that obama care is a government takeover of health care, but there's a slight problem with the government takeover of health care in obama care. there is no government option, and, b, what barack obama did in a word is he said to 22 million people in america, you have to go and now buy private health insurance. this is shocking. he said to america's big five insurers, you're not going to get 22 million new paying customers? there's the socialism in that. he runs this ad. i don't understand spanish despite the fact i took two years of it. i can look at that ad and i can see what they're saying is that the barack obama is a socialist. there's nothing about him that's socialistic at all. in fact, obama care was a boon to the private health insurance industry. so it's kind of a far as and itand it's a little bit of a stretch and it's fearmongering.

i don't know of anybody in the latino community that look at that and say it's credible. >> to that point jimmy calls it fearmongering. i would use one word which is desperate. to me it smacks of the jeep ads they're putting up in ohio, the welfare ads in ohio. it's desperation, it's lices, ad it's aimed at suppressing voters, scaring them, making them to feel that their choice isn't a good one and keeping them from going to the polls. >> that's a good description of ran net romney, but on pla net earth we have mayor bloomberg offering an endorsement of the president. one believes in a woman's right to choose. the other doesn't says mr. bloomberg. one believes in marriage equality. one believes that climate change is real. what do you make, krystal, of this endorsement? >> i really am quite surprised to see bloomberg come out and endorse. he just last week said that he was not going to endorse in this

race and, in fact, it was hurricane sandy and really recognizing what a threat climate change was and how much we need leadership on that issue that caused him to change the way that he was viewing the race. i think given the fact that he had previously said he wasn't going to endorse, that he is an independent, that he's a business-friendly capitalist, i think it adds a little bit to the momentum that the president already has this week. >> jimmy, you were assenting and according with what krystal was saying. i should mention to you, jimmy, that "the economist" magazine has also endorsed the president and i might read to you what they say in their editorial comment. mr. romney has an economic plan that works only if you don't believe most of what he says. this is not a convincing pitch for a chief executive. jimmy, you know about the private sector as you do about the public sector. what's gone wrong here? romney told us that he was the businessman. >> well, he is a businessman,

and barack obama has never run a business his entire life but he's run a government for four years that was literally teetering on the brink of worldwide economic destruction, and we didn't go over that cliff. and what do we have? home prices are up. there are escalation clauses on homes in new york city, across the country. unemployment is going down. people are actually out there hiring other people. we're going to find out tomorrow what the jobs number is. we have good economic data. i have said this before, running a government is not the same as running a business. they're not meant to be the same. and i think there's a factual distinction between those two things. barack obama knows how to run a government. he's done a remarkably good job considering that he inherited what i call a bad, bad pooh-pooh sandwich. that's the nicest thing i can think of. he's turned it around. at the end of the day i think

mayor bloomberg making this endorsement when he did not endorse in 2008 is a big deal and it sends a clear signal to wall street and to business leaders across this country that barack obama is doing exactly what he said he was going to do and that is to turn america's economy around. it is turning around and denying it doesn't make it so. >> jimy williams and krystal ball, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> stay with us. much more ahead. >> there are no democrats and no republicans during a storm. there are just fellow americans. so uh this is my friend frank and his, uh, retirement plan. one golden crown. come on frank how long have we known each other? and that is to turn america's there are just fellow americans. . and that is to turn america's there are just fellow americans. . you realize the odds of winning are the same as being mauled by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day? frank! oh wow, you didn't win? i wanna show you something... it's my shocked face. [ gasps ] ♪ [ male announcer ] get a retirement plan that works

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five days to go before voters hirt the polls and we're about to be carpet bombed with a sustained blitz of political advertising. nbc news reports the total ad spending in the presidential race is about to hit $1 billion, and in this week alone both campaigns plus all the outside interest groups are spending

$143 million. that's more than both bill clinton and george h.w. bush raised for their entire presidential campaigns 20 years ago. we're joined by bill cohen, a columnist for bloomberg view and the author of "money and power, how goldman sachs came to rule the world." what do you make of the amount of money that's being spent, but specifically the so-called social welfare organizations who are completely unaccountable and completely unidentifiable because nobody knows who they are, they spent millions of dollars and 83% of the spending has been used to attack democrats. >> well, once again it's the lack of accountability that we see across government. we see it across wall street. to be able to spend that kind of money targeting your message against democrats and not know who is behind it i don't think is doing our democracy any good. and i think, you know, once we get through this election cycle,

i think that's one thing that we need to take a new look at and see if we can possibly change that. there was that incredibly good program on front line the other day examining this very long and it was mind boggling the money that they used without any accountability to get rid of candidates in local provinces like in montana. >> michael scherer who has written for "time" says $800 million has been spent by outside groups and the vast majority of this is untraceable. >> right. and again -- you know, martin, i think the thing is think about is huge sums of money are being spent but it doesn't always mean that the people who are spending it get their message across. just because you're spending all this kind of money doesn't necessarily mean it works. we saw that the former ceo of ebay, meg whitman, in california spent $125 million of her own fortune and it didn't work. she lost the governorship to jerry brown who obviously spent a lot less. because you're spending this money doesn't mean that you're

persuading voters to your point of view. >> to your point, we have an ad which is from americans for prosperity which imagines a future world in which china dominates the united states. it's a pretty ugly ad. >> yes. >> but it's also dumb. if you look at the front page of the "new york times" today, there's a story that says all the highly skilled people in china are actually leaving to go elsewhere. so it seems like a dumb ad in the likes of that analysis. >> plus, to offend your largest creditor, which clearly it's offensive as well and borderline racist -- >> zen o phobia never hurt some of these organizations. >> there's no reason to offend your largest creditor. we need to work with the chinese, we need to work with the japanese, we need to work with all the people who are financing our massive debt and not offend them in any way. >> many of our viewers who know you because of our writings and

know that you spend a considerable time in wall street want to know what the 1% have against of this president given that he appears to have done very little to upset the apple cart? >> honestly, it has me scratching my head. >> has you scratching your head? >> aside from calling them once upon a time fat cat bankers, president obama has done more for wall street than almost any other president i can imagine in recent years. there's been no prosecutions of anybody on wall street for what happened. not one. the stock market has doubled since march of 2009. he's bailed out the banks which is tantamount to providingbackers and traders with huge billion dollar bonuses and he's encouraged a fed policy which is low interest rates which hurts savers and has floated every boat on wall street for years now. so they should be thanking him and instead they criticize him. >> if bill cohen doesn't get it, no one does.

thank you, sir. next, new jobs numbers look encouragin encouraging, but how will they look tomorrow? stay with us. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios

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tomorrow is the last monthly jobs report before the lech and in case you hadn't heard, a vote for mitt romney is apparently a vote for 12 million jobs. >> we're going to create 12 million new jobs. i have a plan that will create 12 million new jobs. we're going to create 12 million new jobs in just 4 years. >> of course, those 12 million jobs come with 12 million magic wands attached. joining us now is robert reich, professor of economics at the university of california-berkeley and the former labor secretary and the author of "beyond outrage." welcome, sir. professor, romney is not creating 12 million new jobs, he's taking credit for 12 million jobs that one research

firm believes will be automatically created over the next four years. is that not the truth? >> martin, you know, i'm surprised that mitt romney didn't say 14 million or 18 million or -- >> true actually. >> he picked the number completely out of a hat. the united states economy in a normal year will create, and this is not a normal year right now, about ybut in a normal yea create about 2 million new jobs. given that we are in a recovery and the recovery is picking up some speed, it's possible that we may get up to 2.5 or even 3 million new jobs per year. so mitt romney's claim of 12 million new jobs in 4 years may automatically happen regardless of who is president. this is a kind of claim that's baseless in terms of public policy. mitt romney is not coming up with any policies that are going to generate 12 million new jobs. in fact, if anything mitt romney's policies of giving a huge tax break to the very, very

wealthy, cutting most of the programs that everybody else depends on, turning medicare into a voucher system, all of these things actually may depress consumer confidence, reduce aggregate demand, and actually slow the economy down. >> i wish you wouldn't rely on facts, sir. we learned today that jobless claims were down last week and that chrysler has achieved its best sales in five years. home sales and median home prices look to be rebounding. consumer confidence is slowly going up. perhaps mr. romney would like to take credit for all of those as well? is that right? >> i'm sure he would. the problem for mitt romney is the economy is getting better. consumer confidence is up. most people understand that. and so mitt romney all along the way, particularly over the last four or five months, has had to recalibrate his campaign. remember his campaign originally was based on the notion that the economy was in terrible shape, most people understood that and

he was a better custodian of the economy. but as the economy has started to show signs of getting better and better, mitt romney has had to throw anything at the wall and see what sticks. he's taken to saying that, oh, well, mitt romney's responsible he says for the bailout of chrysler and gm. mitt romney says that the $716 billion that he wanted to take out of medicare is actually the $716 billion that barack obama is going to reduce medicare by. in other words, he is using up his air time and doing whatever he needs to do, saying whatever he needs to say in order to win some voters in one of the crassest displays of duplicity i frankly remember in a presidential campaign. >> professor robert reich, as ever, thank you, sir. as we go to break we wanted to mark the passing of a quiet genius. born in the chicago projects with a unique voice, he produced a sweet combination of folk and jazz, but despite all his

skills, the music business proved a hard place to make money. so he put his guitar down and took a job as a computer programmer in order to pay for his children to go to college. he was actually a record label in london in the late 1990s but revived his career, and that's how i came to hear his passionate voice and velvet guitar. terry call ier was 67. how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. prand you're seeing that rightno quit in amnow.a... that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now.

here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. [ female announcer ] you can always measure the growth of your children by the way they clean themselves in the bathroom. try charmin ultra strong. with a new duraclean texture, charmin ultra strong helps you get clean. plus it's four times stronger than the leading value brand. and you can use up to four times less. good news for even the biggest kids in the family.

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but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth! it's time now to clear the air and mitt romney has spent a good deal of time saying that the deficit isn't just a matter of money, it's also a moral issue that will affect future generations. here he is during the first debate. >> i think it's not just an economic issue. i think it's a moral issue. i think it's, frankly, not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in. >> but while mr. romney rails against the deficit, he has a very different view when it comes to the environment. he thinks the rising debt is a

moral issue but not the rise of the oceans. in fact, in an incredible performance at the republican national convex, he gratuitously mocked the president, even prening and pausing for laughter. >> president obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oce oceans. and to heal the planet. >> you try telling that dismal joke to those who have just watched the sea rise over their homes and communities. you try denying the fact that the number of storms yech eeach is increasing nom just in number but ferocity, too. whern up to 80 people lose their lives as a direct result of a storm like this, is the rise of the oceans a joke or is it a serious moral problem? i think we know the answer to